Thursday, June 14, 2007

I watched the fourth quarter of Game 3 of the NBA Finals Tuesday night, and I saw something so pathetic. No, it wasn't the Cavs' three-point shooting. And it wasn't the fact that it was the second-lowest scoring game in Finals history. It was what the scoreboard operator at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena did.

Let me set the stage. The Cavs, down 2-0 and desperate for a win, trailed San Antonio by 10 midway through the 4th quarter. But they scored eight straight to give themselves a chance. With 1:32 left, the Spurs Tim Duncan was fouled. A miss or two by the notoriously poor free throw shooting Duncan could open the door for the Cavs to pull out the win.

So what does the scoreboard operator put up on the big screen at the arena? A Michigan logo.

Yeah, that makes sense.

The scoreboard guy made the same move in the previous round when the Cavs were playing the Pistons. I saw them put up the block M when former Wolverine Chris Webber shot free throws. Though still pathetic, that was at least logical.

But while Duncan, a Wake Forest grad, was shooting?

I know Cleveland fans don't have a lot of experience cheering their teams in championship games, but I would hope that with a minute and a half away from a possible victory against San Antonio, that they weren't thinking of Michigan.

18 comments:

They've been doing it all season. The first time I saw it was against the Bulls. Luol Deng (former Dukie) was at the line during a close game. Everyone started booing wildly. Of course, his nickname is "Lu", and at the United Center, the crowd will often cheer: "Luuuuuu". So it's possible he thought they were cheering for him. He drained both free throws and the Bulls ended up winning the game.

I live in Cleveland and am a HUGE Michigan fan. I also like the Cavs. The games that I have went to, they did it every time. It drives me crazy. During basketball season and their playoff run, Ohio State fans still can ONLY think of Michigan. It's obsession. It really is. You know what else they do? They play Hang on Sloopy during almost every game in between the third and fourth quarter. They also play that song at Browns games. It's aMAIZEing how obsessed OSU fans are with Michigan.

Check this out...to continue on my previous post about OSU's obsession with Michigan...

A friend of mine went to a wedding (he is a Michigan fan and lives in Columbus, the poor child). The wedding was up here in Cleveland. Of course, the asshole DJ plays Hang on Sloopy and of course, all the drunk ass OSU fans sing that stupid ass song. Then, a Florida fan gets up during the song and starts doing the gator chop (this wedding occurred after the two national title games). He started chanting out things like, "We own OSU blablabla." Then, a completely retarded OSU fan stands up and shouts, you'll love this, "At least we still own Michigan!"

How incredibly irrelevant is that? I mean WHY THE HELL would he say that?! How unbelieveably stupid and ridiculous is that? It just goes to show that after everything that happened, OSU fans only think about Michigan. I would have knocked that guy out if I were there...

Pathetic? I think it's fun. It just shows you what a great rivalry there is between Ohio State and Michigan that it is relevant or even mentioned at a basketball game that has nothing to do with the two schools.

No. It is beyond pathetic. UM fans do not only think about OSU. OSU fans only think about Michigan. Do Michigan fans think that only one game matters during the season? Absolutely not. OSU fans always say, "We could go 1-11 and be happy, as long as the win is versus Michigan." That, everyone, is pathetic. Michigan and their fan base focus on winning the conference title and if possible, the national title. Going 1-11 and only beating OSU is unacceptable.

Thanks for checking. And thanks for further illustrating that point. Guess how many tosu blogs I read? Zero. I'm assuming there are such things. Seriously, why would it even cross a buckeye fan's "mind" to read a Michigan blog? Baffling.

And what is the point of the logo flash anyway? Is it some sort of Pavlovian cue to send the Ohio faithful into a frenzy? The lot of you are utterly inscrutable. And not in the charming or endearing way, either, more in the disconcerting and vaguely threatening way...sort of like the crazy homeless cat lady on The Simpsons.

Can't say I know what they were thinking, I wouldn't go so far as to call it obsession, probably just some guy thinking he was being funny. everyone knows 'That Guy' ans someone just gave him the power to run a scoreboard. As far as the whole 'Sloopy' thing goes. That is an 'Ohio' thing not an 'Ohio State' thing. Yes, it originated at, and is almost always associated with, Ohio State, but Sloopy is the official rock and roll song of the state of Ohio.

P.S. for the record, I am an Ohio State fan, I'm even a student, and I frequent this site because I find it hilarious. I've even emailed Benny and Yost a few times with stories from Columbus.

Unfortunately, I live in Crackland. They are digging for something to be happy about around here, sports wise. The Crapiliers beat Detroit in one series - so what even the sun shines on a dog's ass every now and then - they still haven't won shit. Look at the past 50 years, Detroit has eight major sports championships and Pittsburgh has eleven... Cleveland, Zero. No wonder why they look to c-bus for inspiration.

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